Hong Kong, Feb. 4 -- China Southern Airlines, Asia's largest carrier and the third largest airline in the world, is heading to the top of the global industry's table. Read More > Shanghai's China Eastern and Air China in Beijing won't be far behind.
The "Big Three" Mainland carriers may have shed their country cousin image in the airline world yet their management structures, which include the airlines' Communist Party committees participation in their decision-making, cast them as different in almost every way from their western peers.
They are stock exchange listed but state-owned. Every aspect of their operations is controlled by Beijing, from aircraft acquisitions approved by a centralized state purchasing organization to fuel policie...